Radio 1- End of year question
Explain how popular music radio programmes target, reach and maintain a variety of audiences. Refer to The BBC Radio One Breakfast Show to support your answer. [15]
It is increasingly harder for popular music radio programmes to target, reach and maintain a variety of audiences due to changes in audience wants and needs. A RAJAR survey for the first quarter of 2020 showed that the 3 most popular commercial radio stations suffered a decrease in listeners which may be due to new digital streaming services which are strong competitors to radio stations. Commercial stations such as Smooth, Heart and Capital (owned by Global) will be affected by not being able to maintain an audience as they need high listening figures in order to have advertisers want to advertise on their station and generate money. A way that commercial radio stations try to target, reach and maintain audiences is through cash give-aways. This will encourage more people to listen as they want a chance to win the money therefore allowing the privatised stations to try and maintain audiences and gain advertisers. This is different for public service broadcasters such as the BBC as it is funded from British households paying a TV licence of £157.50 a year. In the RAJAR survey it was shown that the BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show had actually increased their amount of listeners in the first quarter of 2020 by 1.3%. This shows that the BBC has been successful in targeting, reaching and maintaining an audience by using methods such as focusing on providing a quality and exclusive breakfast show that focuses on the Reithian values of Inform, Educate and Entertain.
The BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show tries to target a 15-29 year old audience. This demographic only makes up 29% of total radio listeners in the industry due to the generation Z audience having bigger interests in streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music as they allow audiences to curate their own playlists. To try and maintain their audience against the digital competition, the BBC diversified into creating a music app called BBC Sounds which users can download on their phones and listen to exclusive BBC content such as interviews, behind-the-scenes and highlights of the BBC Radio One Breakfast Show from previous days. This shows how radio has tried to target, reach and maintain its audience which is constantly changing to have new needs and wants.
Another example of how the BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show has tried to target, reach and maintain its audience is through including features in the show which allow it to have an exclusivity feel to it and provide USPs. A way they have done this is through having celebrities appear on the show alongside the host Greg James. On the 17th December 2019, Greg invited 'Coldplay' singer Chris Martin on the show which featured Greg talking to Chris about current social affairs and then having Chris talk to the listeners. This shows the radio show trying to continue to reach out to their listeners and provide entertainment that listeners couldn't get on their own playlists, so that they continue to listen to the radio show. Another feature that the BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show has to target, reach and maintain its audience is that Greg James plays games or presents quizzes to interact with listeners. On the 17th December 2019, Greg hosted a quiz with the title 'Yesterday's Quiz' which was a quiz all about news that occurred the day before. This quiz featured listeners ringing in with their answers to the questions and caused interaction across a range of platforms as listeners tweeted Greg with their thoughts about the quiz which shows how the show has become digitally convergent due to many 15-29 year olds communicating through social media. The BBC Radio One Breakfast Show also has a feature called 'The Ten Minute Takeover' where listeners send in their song requests and Greg plays them. This allows for web 2.0 to be exploited and allow for listeners to be in control just like with their own playlists on streaming services. These features allow for the BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show to be trying to target, reach and maintain audiences by providing USPs to attract listeners.
The BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show has also tried to target, reach and maintain its audience through the use of social media. As well as using social media to interact whilst the show is airing, social media is used to provide the audience with behind-the-scenes content and interesting information to try and persuade them to listen to the show. This has been a success for the BBC with Radio 1's Twitter recently hitting 3 million followers. It is important for the show to keep up with its digitally confident target audience in order to try and target them to listen to the show. A recent above the line marketing campaign has also been created that has been shown on social media as well as being shown on the BBC's televisions channels. These adverts have tried to target and reach new listeners as well as encouraging existing listener to maintain listening to the show.
Overall, The BBC Radio One Breakfast Show has targeted, reached and maintained an audience by adapting to changes in audience wants and needs. The show has become multimedia and focuses on offering a service which is seen as exclusive and able to provide features in which streaming services can't.
It is increasingly harder for popular music radio programmes to target, reach and maintain a variety of audiences due to changes in audience wants and needs. A RAJAR survey for the first quarter of 2020 showed that the 3 most popular commercial radio stations suffered a decrease in listeners which may be due to new digital streaming services which are strong competitors to radio stations. Commercial stations such as Smooth, Heart and Capital (owned by Global) will be affected by not being able to maintain an audience as they need high listening figures in order to have advertisers want to advertise on their station and generate money. A way that commercial radio stations try to target, reach and maintain audiences is through cash give-aways. This will encourage more people to listen as they want a chance to win the money therefore allowing the privatised stations to try and maintain audiences and gain advertisers. This is different for public service broadcasters such as the BBC as it is funded from British households paying a TV licence of £157.50 a year. In the RAJAR survey it was shown that the BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show had actually increased their amount of listeners in the first quarter of 2020 by 1.3%. This shows that the BBC has been successful in targeting, reaching and maintaining an audience by using methods such as focusing on providing a quality and exclusive breakfast show that focuses on the Reithian values of Inform, Educate and Entertain.
The BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show tries to target a 15-29 year old audience. This demographic only makes up 29% of total radio listeners in the industry due to the generation Z audience having bigger interests in streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music as they allow audiences to curate their own playlists. To try and maintain their audience against the digital competition, the BBC diversified into creating a music app called BBC Sounds which users can download on their phones and listen to exclusive BBC content such as interviews, behind-the-scenes and highlights of the BBC Radio One Breakfast Show from previous days. This shows how radio has tried to target, reach and maintain its audience which is constantly changing to have new needs and wants.
Another example of how the BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show has tried to target, reach and maintain its audience is through including features in the show which allow it to have an exclusivity feel to it and provide USPs. A way they have done this is through having celebrities appear on the show alongside the host Greg James. On the 17th December 2019, Greg invited 'Coldplay' singer Chris Martin on the show which featured Greg talking to Chris about current social affairs and then having Chris talk to the listeners. This shows the radio show trying to continue to reach out to their listeners and provide entertainment that listeners couldn't get on their own playlists, so that they continue to listen to the radio show. Another feature that the BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show has to target, reach and maintain its audience is that Greg James plays games or presents quizzes to interact with listeners. On the 17th December 2019, Greg hosted a quiz with the title 'Yesterday's Quiz' which was a quiz all about news that occurred the day before. This quiz featured listeners ringing in with their answers to the questions and caused interaction across a range of platforms as listeners tweeted Greg with their thoughts about the quiz which shows how the show has become digitally convergent due to many 15-29 year olds communicating through social media. The BBC Radio One Breakfast Show also has a feature called 'The Ten Minute Takeover' where listeners send in their song requests and Greg plays them. This allows for web 2.0 to be exploited and allow for listeners to be in control just like with their own playlists on streaming services. These features allow for the BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show to be trying to target, reach and maintain audiences by providing USPs to attract listeners.
The BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show has also tried to target, reach and maintain its audience through the use of social media. As well as using social media to interact whilst the show is airing, social media is used to provide the audience with behind-the-scenes content and interesting information to try and persuade them to listen to the show. This has been a success for the BBC with Radio 1's Twitter recently hitting 3 million followers. It is important for the show to keep up with its digitally confident target audience in order to try and target them to listen to the show. A recent above the line marketing campaign has also been created that has been shown on social media as well as being shown on the BBC's televisions channels. These adverts have tried to target and reach new listeners as well as encouraging existing listener to maintain listening to the show.
Overall, The BBC Radio One Breakfast Show has targeted, reached and maintained an audience by adapting to changes in audience wants and needs. The show has become multimedia and focuses on offering a service which is seen as exclusive and able to provide features in which streaming services can't.
Comments
Post a Comment